On raising a son on the autism spectrum, progressive politics, pop culture, and coffee addiction.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

I eight too much

I’ve been watching the Eight Things meme cycle around the blogosphere for weeks, and it seems to have cycled over to me - I've been tagged by Niksmom. Now, in all honesty, I try to respond to tags when I discover them, mostly because it seems the decent thing to do. But I am especially inclined to respond to this tag, not only because I am quite fond of Niksmom, but also because in her tag she called me “ubiquitous”. I am putty in the hands of a word like “ubiquitous.”

So, first the housekeeping. The rules of this meme are:1. Let others know who tagged you.2. Players start with 8 random facts about themselves.3. Those who are tagged should post these rules and their 8 random facts.4. Players should tag 8 other people and notify them they have been tagged.

And now, eight things:

1. I’ve been having trouble sleeping lately. This is due only in part to the fact that Bud is also having trouble sleeping lately. I know this because on the rare morning in recent weeks when he’s slept past 4:00, I’ve found myself staring at the ceiling just the same. This is highly, highly unusual for me, as sleeping is typically one of my very best things, good times and bad.

2. I am coming out of the closet as a country music fan. In all honesty, I didn’t give country music much of a chance for a long time (probably because I assumed it was out of whack with my political and religious leanings), but last January I had a training weekend with my student staff in which several of our activities centered around music. During the weekend, I discovered two things: a) My staff was heavily into country music, and b) Their music was good. So I started dabbling and trying things out and at some point in recent months I got so hooked that these days it’s almost all I listen to.

I should add the caveat that I am not a fan of all country music. In fact, I am only really interested in a very specific sub-genre of country music – what Yahoo Launch Music calls “Today’s Country,” and what XM Radio calls “Highway 16”: Keith Urban, Billy Currington, Faith Hill, Brad Paisley… within the genre, I’m hard-pressed to find someone I really don’t like.

An interesting aside: Bud has become a fan as well and frequently asks me to add specific tracks to his iPod. His recent requests have included Sugarland’s “Everyday America,” Tim McGraw’s “When the Stars Go Blue,” and his hands-down, all-time favorite, Dierks Bentley’s “Free and Easy (Down the Road I Go).”

3. I’ve been peripherally following the storyline of General Hospital since the early 80’s – since before Luke and Laura were Lukeandlaura. I haven’t necessarily been watching GH since the early 80’s, but I’ve been dropping by and catching up here and there for more than 25 years. I’ll go five or more years, then catch word that there’s a great storyline (read: Stone Cates dying of AIDS in the mid-90’s) or I'll find myself home sick some afternoon and I’ll tune in. It usually takes about a week to bring myself up to speed on anything I’ve missed in the intervening years. The advent of TiVo has made this excessively easy. I can easily get some episodes in the line-up, and before you can say "Port Charles" I'm right back in the know - and then, after about two weeks, I'm good to go for another five years.

4. I really like the taste of beer, but I have an incredibly low tolerance for alcohol. I’m typically loopy enough after half a beer that I wouldn’t drive, and on the rare occasion that I actually finish two whole beers, I'm usually fast asleep.

5. Twenty-three years out, I am still in touch with many – most, actually – of my best friends from high school. In fact, I am in touch with more friends from high school that I am friends from any other period of my life. I was one of those people who loved high school – probably because I was lucky enough to find myself in really terrific company there.

6. I was diagnosed with Osgood-Schlatter disease when I was 10 years old, and I still have a very weird bony bump on my kneecap to show for it.

7. I drove cross-country with two friends from college in 1989. They were dating each other, which didn’t keep the three of us from sharing a tent for the whole summer. Highlights of the trip included Beale Street and Graceland; Bourbon Street and Preservation Hall; the mechanic named Dink who arrived on the scene in Georgia moments after our tire blew out and directed us to one of the loveliest campgrounds of the whole trip; Moab, Utah and Arches National Park; Bend, Oregon; the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota; and the sub-zero swimming environs of Rangely Lake in Maine.

8. The friends with whom I shared a tent in 1989 were married in 1995, and I got the credentials I needed to be able to perform their wedding ceremony. When their son was born in 2001, I was on the scene again and, as such, I have the proud distinction of being the first person on the planet to ever see the top of his head.

I'd like to tag eight bloggers, but I swear that I've already seen tags out there linking to almost every blogger I know. If you haven't had it yet, and you're inclined to share, please do. I'd even be happy to call you "ubiquitous" if it would entice you more.

Country music? Sigh...you're not the person I thought you were. (kidding!)

I only dabbled in GH while in high school, but I quit cold turkey after Luke had been a rapist, then became a good guy. I remember life stopping - like when the Challenger blew up - on the day that Luke and Laura got married. I couldn't take soap life and quit, and happily have never looked back.

My hubby converted me to country somewhere during our relationship. I used to despise it. Bubba of course knows most all country music by heart. His absoltue vorite is the sugarland lady/bon jovi 'duets' though.

Am I the only one who remembers that Christopher Cross did a version of "Laura" during LukeandLaura?

I wasn't feeling old until a recently saw a picture of Genie Francis. She is a lovely lady. A lovely middle-aged lady. In my mind, she is still 20 and in love with Luke post-rape, and I am in 10th grade running across the street to Bullock's to watch the LukeandLaura Wedding Extravaganza.

Teal, Drama Mama, VTBudFan, yes - the rape. What you might be interested to know is that it is a storyline that has had a long arc. In other words, it's not something that the writers have swept under the carpet, glossed over, and tried to pretend never happened. This summer, Luke has had to tell his teenage daughter about the rape - his teenage daughter, who is about the same age as Laura was when Luke raped her and who looks strikingly like Laura did at that age. Lulu (the daughter) is working through some difficult emotions as a result - about her father, about her mother, about trust, about relationship, about a lot of things. My sense (from the soap-opera expositional dialogue that is designed to catch you up if you haven't been watching in a long time) is that there was a similar plotline several years ago when Luke had to come clean with his son, Lucky. (His son, incidentally, is married to a woman who was raped, and I'm not sure if the timing of Luke's confession to Lucky coincided with and the occurence of Elizabeth's rape.) So, yes, the rape-followed-by-love-story was ill-conceived, but the writers in subsequent years have tried to use it responsibly. *End rationalization.*

Bubandpie, I tuned in for Stone's death, but I stuck around for Sonny and Brenda. If I'd had TiVo back then, there are a few scenes that I would still have saved for replay.

Is it just me, or are Jason and Sam getting old, really fast? I want a love story like Luke and Laura that makes me weep for days....sadly, nothing like that has been happening for a few years. Although, Stone dying was pretty gripping.

Perhaps we should get together as a viewer community and write a few scripts....you have some talented writers/readers here Mom-NOS

Country music and beer! Hi soul mate. I love Alison Krauss, too. If you want funny, it is the look on the husband's face when, an hour into a day long car trip in my vehicle, he discovered that all five discs I had loaded were country. Dolly plus!I have been enjoying this meme all over the place and am about to take you up on doing it. There are now only seven bloggers anywhere who haven't.